Pack scores 28 against former school, No. 12 Miami tops Kansas State 91-83 for Bahamas title
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Tournament MVP Nijel Pack scored 20 of his 28 points in the first half against his former school, and No. 12 Miami topped Kansas State 91-83 on Sunday to win the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas championship.
Norchad Omier scored 23 for the Hurricanes (5-0), who are essentially assured of tying a school record by being in the AP Top 25 for the 17th consecutive week when the new poll comes out Monday. Miami also had a run of 17 consecutive appearances in the 2015-16 season.
Wooga Poplar and Matthew Cleveland each scored 15 for Miami.
“It was so much fun for me,” Pack said. “We all came out ready to play. It was a really good game for us.”
Cam Carter scored 28 points — 24 in the second half — and Arthur Kaluma had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Kansas State (3-2), which fell to 0-2 against ranked opponents this season. The Wildcats started the year with a loss to then-No. 21 USC in Las Vegas.
Tylor Perry and David N’Guessan had 10 apiece for Kansas State, which trailed by as many as 24 early in the second half but outscored Miami 30-16 over the final 6 1/2 minutes.
“That’s the character of our team,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. “I’m very, very proud of them for the second half.”
The difference was 3-point shooting — Miami was 12 of 24 from beyond the arc, Kansas State just 4 of 28. Pack’s seven 3’s tied his best in a Miami uniform; he had eight on two occasions while playing for the Wildcats.
“I think everybody knows that Nijel was probably extremely well motivated because he had been a player for the Kansas State Wildcats,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said.
Pack spent his first two college seasons at Kansas State, averaging 15.3 points and 2.9 assists in 53 games there. He transferred before last season, helped the Hurricanes reach the Final Four and is now three makes shy of 100 3-pointers at Miami.
“He was always a really good player. … I thought we did a better job on him in the second half, but first half, he was pretty special,” Tang said.
Pack’s seventh 3-pointer on Sunday gave Miami a 73-51 lead with 7:17 left. That cushion got cut down considerably in the next few minutes.
Kansas State outscored Miami 19-4 over a 4-minute stretch of the second half, getting within 79-70 on a jumper by Carter with 2:48 remaining. Carter had 11 of Kansas State’s points during that spurt.
But Miami would hang on. Cleveland had a putback tip-in to give Miami an 11-point lead with 2:26 left and Omier had the next eight points for the Hurricanes — who matched their best start since the 2018-19 season. It’s the fifth time in Larrañaga’s 13-year tenure at Miami that the Hurricanes have opened a season 5-0 or better.
“I’m most pleased that we’re 5-0,” Larrañaga said. “The teams we’ve played are good.”
BIG PICTURE
Kansas State: The Wildcats had won eight consecutive games against Division I teams from the state of Florida until last March, when they lost to Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight — and now, they’ve lost to Miami as well. Their next game against a team from the Sunshine State is Jan. 6, when they open Big 12 play against UCF.
Miami: It was the first game of the season in which the Hurricanes didn’t have a run of at least 10 consecutive unanswered points. They didn’t need one — a pair of 7-0 runs in the opening minutes built a 15-4 lead, and an 8-0 run early in the second half pushed Miami’s edge to 57-33.
NEXT YEAR
The tournament announced the field for the 2024 Baha Mar event. It’ll be Virginia, Baylor, St. John’s and Tennessee.
UP NEXT
Kansas State: Host Central Arkansas on Wednesday.
Miami: Visit Kentucky on Nov. 28 in the ACC-SEC challenge.
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